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Strawberries with Lavender Biscuits

Author Notes:I've been making these biscuits forever - I like using some wheat flour for texture. They're super simple and fast and can morph into many forms - used for sweet or savory dishes. I've also shaped them like scones and passed them off that way.
The strawberries are from the farmer's market and stay pretty much unadulterated. You can adjust the sweetness factor to your specific batch of berries and taste! —Sara

Food52 Review: This dessert is a clever riff on strawberry shortcake. Even though the biscuits contain whole wheat flour, you won't believe how feathery and tender they are. Sara has you assemble the dough in the food processor, which takes all of five minutes, and she offers you the option of brushing the biscuits with cream and sprinkling with sugar -- we used demerara -- before baking, which we definitely recommend. It gives the tops a little crunch. Also, we couldn't find fresh lavender so we used 1/2 tablespoon dried. (When replacing a fresh herb with dried, using half the fresh amount is standard.) - A&M —The Editors

Serves: 6 people

Ingredients

1
cup white flour

1
cup whole wheat pastry flour

2
tablespoons brown sugar

2
teaspoons baking powder

1
teaspoon salt

1
tablespoon fresh lavender flowers (less if dried)

8
tablespoons cold butter

1
cup heavy cream

2
quarts fresh strawberries

2-4
tablespoons brown sugar

6-8
tablespoons creme fraiche

fresh mint

In This Recipe

Directions

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
Combine flours, sugar, baking powder, salt and lavender flowers in bowl of a food processor and pulse a couple of times to mix. Drop in butter, one tablespoon at a time while pulsing blade. Just mix until dough resembles coarse meal. Slowly add cream, pulsing, until just mixed. Dough will be tacky. Drop 8 large scoops on ungreased cookie sheet, (optional: brush top with a bit of heavy cream and sprinkle with sugar) and bake 18-20 mins. When done, remove from pan and let cool on a wire rack.

While the biscuits are baking, prepare your strawberries. Rinse the berries, stem and hull them. I usually cut them in half because they are small to begin with. Toss the berries with a few tablespoons of brown sugar - this part is a matter of taste and sweetness of the berries. Try not to handle the berries too much, you don't want to mush them, but you do want the berries natural juices to come out. That's it.

Now it's time to assemble your Strawberries with Lavender Biscuits. I cut my biscuits in half and serve in a bowl. Lay the bottom of the biscuit in your bowl. scoop some berries and their juice over that. Add a dollop of creme fraiche (again, this too can be sweetened a little, depending on personal taste, I like the sourness) and top with the other half of the biscuit. I like to garnish with some fresh mint and a lavender flower.

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8 Reviews

ON the off chance someone wants the answer to the questions asked years ago... You could use all purpose flour (they call it "white flour") or any pastry flour in place of the whole wheat pastry flour. The key is to be low in gluten (which makes great bread, but not great biscuits/pastries).

I made this for a group of 8 and it was delicious! I tried a gluten free version by exchanging the regular flour with almond flour, sorghum flour, tapioca flour, and oat flour--it turned out great! I also used fresh whipped cream insterad of creme fraiche since it's what I had on hand. It made me very glad that strawberries are in season!

I've been trying to find somewhat non-traditional (yet not too twee) "springtimey" food for my wedding reception, and these just made the final cut! So glad I found this recipe! I wanted to use flowers in some of the food, but also didn't want to annoy the guests...these have just the right touch, and are not overwhelming when served with lemonade spiked with rose syrup. Delish!! Thank you!

I had the same question: would normal plain wholewheat flour work instead of wholewheat pastry flour?<br /><br />(Not sure what cake flour is as we don't have it in the UK. I think it's the same as self-raising flour?)<br />